Infineon cuts workers hours ahead of downturn

"Altogether, this is saving over 100 million euros. By putting these measures into place, Infineon is taking the appropriate reaction of a healthy company to a weak market environment," said Ploss in the statement.

Ploss said that Infineon had already begun implementing short-time working at its facility in Warstein with effect from September in response to declining demand for industrial applications. Ploss did not detail how extensive the short-time working would be across Infineon, or how deep it would likely cut into workers' hours, or whether they would continue to take home their basic contracted remuneration.

Infineon is forecasting that the fourth calendar quarter, the first quarter of its 2013 fiscal year, will see sales reduce by low teens of percentage sequentially. It expects all of its business units to report lower revenue.

For all of fiscal 2013 Infineon is forecasting reduction in revenue compare to the previous fiscal year by a mid-to high-single digit percentage rate based on the assumption of a tough first half of the year and an improved second half.